All posts tagged George Pelecanos

Elmore Leonard, legendary crime novelist and author of nearly 50 novels, including “Get Shorty,” and “Road Dogs,” died Tuesday morning in his home in Bloomfield Township, Mich. Fellow crime writer George Pelecanos, author of “The Night Gardener” and a writer for “The Wire,” reflected on Mr. Leonard’s lasting influence on his work, and the genre. Below, an edited transcript of the interview.

“He was the guy that a lot of us in my generation wanted to be. We wanted to be as good as him and beyond the content itself, we wanted to have his career. I mean, to write good books that were popular and to have his longevity, to be in the game as long he was and to be as good as was.”

This hasn’t been much of an issue the past eight years, but presidents, as we recall from Bill Clinton and Walter Mosley, can sell books with the likes of Colbert, Imus and Oprah. Politico checked Amazon — it’s too early to get data from other sources — to see if sales have spiked for the five titles that the White House said President Obama was reading during his Martha’s Vineyard vacation. The books were George Pelecanos’s “The Way Home,” Richard Price’s “Lush Life,” Tom Friedman’s “Hot, Flat and Crowded,” David McCullough’s “John Adams” and Kent Haruf’s “Plainsong.” :

“The Way Home is now at sales rank 965 on Amazon.com’s Best Seller list, up from 33,349 when Obama’s list was first announced Monday. The others:

” Lush Life”: From No. 74,289 to No. 981 today.

“Hot, Flat and Crowded”: From 231 to 73.

“John Adams”: 14,301 to 784.

“Plainsong”: 8,155 to 580.

To be sure, it doesn’t take many sales to move the needle on Amazon. But the presidential effect is clear: when Amazon asks on the site, “What do customers ultimately buy after viewing this item?”, guess what books come up pretty much every time? The other four. Read More »

Two weeks ago, actress and singer Patti LuPone grabbed a cell phone out of the hand of an audience member who was texting during a performance of her current play, "Shows for Days." The bold move led to an outpouring of support from fans fed up with glowing screens. Ms. LuPone gives us her five rules of theater etiquette.